Sunday, October 27, 2019

Shouldn’t We Mend Now?


                                         
An old saying is “Wise men learn from folly of others and fools wait till they commit blunders themselves”. A Dogri proverb means “It is futile to repent folly when handcuffed; but to mend when free person to escape being handcuffing”. We give sermons and pieces of good advice to convince others to reform them selves. But we seldom think necessary to ponder over our own weaknesses to correct. Our ego makes us think that whatever “I” think is correct even if it may be miles away from the accepted correct path. Who cannot differentiate in the present day world between Right and Wrong? The simplest good behavior formula is to behave with others as you wish others to behave with you. Otherwise as we sow so shall we reap. Do we need a god man or mahatma to tell us every now and then that it is wrong to, lei, weigh less, over charge, abuse any body, harm an innocent creature, waste food, electricity, water, avoid corrupt means in one’s dealing, demand or snatch by deceit which belongs to others, over speed you vehicle, reach late to one’s office or work place, obey established law and norms etc. etc. Should we be reminded every day by a saint to behave as top of the creation else KAL, MOUT KA FRISHTA, DEVIL or negative power shall punish us after our death and put us in HELL. Even if a saint says so, how much does it affect our daily dealing after we move out of Satsang, Namaj, Kirtan, and Prayer Halls? Salvation lies in action not in only listening sermons. Baba Jaimal Singh (1839-1903) a Great Punjabi Mystic said “An ounce of practice is worth more than a ton of theory: How long we shall go on deceiving our selves. Let us try to be humans first then any thing else.  Since our Almighty God, our Devine Father resides with in human frame, so all human frames are equal and have Devine brotherhood relationship. Hence to Love His children or creation is to love God. Buley Shah a Great Sofi Saint proclaimed “RAB ASSAN TO BAKH NAHIN, PAR DEKHAN WALI AKH NAHIN” meaning God is with us always, but we do not have yet the Devine Eye to see Him. Our   lust, ego, worldly attachment, greed and anger, are the greatest hurdles on our way to right path leading away from our goal of attaining salvation. First we have to be Human before becoming God realization. For this we to control KAM (Lust) with chastity, KARODH (Anger) with tolerance, LOBH  (Greed) with contentment, MOH (Attachment) with detachment and AHNAKAR (Ego, Pride) with Humility or humbleness. Presently most of our actions do not make us qualify as humans. Leave aside our goal of Salvation or MUKTI   many of us do not qualify to be called as humans. Let us ponder over afresh on our actions and judge our selves how much we are concerned about ourselves and our fellow beings in our day to day worldly dealings.
          Driving: - Are we not responsible for over 4, 90, 383 (2012) Lakh  yearly accidents on Indian roads?. This resulted in death of 1, 38,258 (2012) persons with over 75% our youth. Is not driving with out helmets, with out proper driving licenses, over speeding, taking on Mobiles while driving, roaming animals on roads, improperly maintained vehicles, hurry, alcohol drinking while driving, continued use of vehicles beyond their  road worthiness age ,improper maintenance of roads, Rash driving, crisscrossing improper maintenance of vehicles. It has also been said that accidents on Indian roads are the most deadliness in the world. As per WHO India losses $20 billion annually enough to feed 50% of the nation's malnourished children. In J&K1366 got killed besides 10910 injured in 2006. If we responsibly behave on roads much of the loss on this account can be avoided.
      Quit Use of Tobacco: - Smoking induces many ill health problems. WHO estimated that Tobacco use kills at least 5 million people every year? Also second hand smoking kills about 600,000 people every year. Tobacco use is the leading preventable cause of death, so all should quit its use in all forms for his or her health safety.
     Corruption: - Corruption a world phenomenon is showing its ill effects on all spheres. It has assumed different shapes. Different scams from business house, Education, Army services, bureaucracy, politics, judiciary, police ,almost majority of  government supplies, medicines, medical equipment and many other departmental services and purchases. Professor Bibek Debroy and Laveesh Bhandari claim in their book Corruption in India: The DNA and RNA that the public officials in India may be cornering as much as Rs.921.22 billion ($18.42 billion), or 1.26 per cent of the GDP, through corruption. The book claims most bribery is in the transport industry, real estate and government delivered services.
Black Money:- A November 2010 report from the Washington-based Global Financial Integrity estimates that over a 60-year period, India lost US$213 billion in illicit financial flows beginning in 1948; adjusted for inflation, this is estimated to be 462 billion in 2010 dollars, or about $8 billion per year ($7 per capita per year). The report also estimated the size of India's underground economy at approximately US$640 billion at the end of 2008 or roughly 50% of the nation's GDP.                                                Black Money in Switzerland:-According to a 2010 The Hindu article, unofficial estimates indicate that Indians had over US$1456 billion in black money stored in Swiss banks (approximately USD 1.4 trillion) about 1.5% of India's GDP on average per annum basis.
Business and Corruption:- Public servants have very wide discretionary powers offering the opportunity to extort undue payments from companies and ordinary citizens. The awarding of public contracts is notoriously corrupt, especially at the state level. Scandals involving high-level politicians have highlighted the payment of kickbacks in the healthcare, IT and military sectors. The deterioration of the overall efficiency of the government, protection of property rights, ethics and corruption as well as undue influence on government and judicial decisions has resulted in a more difficult business environment.
Scams: - India lost incalculable amount in over 134 scams starting with one in 1948(Jeep scandal case)  increasing to 41 in2012. A number of scams involve nearly $1000 billions ( One billion is 1- lacs crores)
Bureaucracy:- Most of the largest sources of corruption in India are entitlement programmes and social spending schemes enacted by the Indian government. Examples include Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act and National Rural Health Mission ,Public Distribution System, License Raj. Other daily sources of corruption include India's trucking industry which is forced to pay billions in bribes annually to numerous regulatory and police stops on its interstate highways. A study conducted by Transparency International in year 2005 found that more than 62% of Indians had firsthand experience of paying bribes or influence peddling to get jobs done in public offices successfully. Long time associate of Mahatama Gandhi and First Indian Governor –Gereral of India Chakravarthi Rajagopalachari (1878-1972) warned that License Raj was often at the core of corruption.
Crime infected Politics: - The Indian voting percentage has never exceeded 70% and no political party ever got 50% of  absolute votes. So all along India is being ruled by parties in minorities by political manupolations. As per latest reports2013 out of 543( Lok Sabha)  members 162(30%) have  declared criminal cases with 14% cases as serious crimes against them. The State Assembly members no way lack behind. Out of total strength of State Assembly members(MLA’s)1258(31%) of them have declared to facing criminal cases with 15% having serious natures cases against them. Out of total strength of Indian IAS officers 82% have stated that they faced political pressure with 63% saying the pressure was severe in nature.                                                                                                                                                Female feticide:- Female foeticide is a curse on the twenty first century. Though people are educated and well groomed but still they overlook the importance of female child. Pre-natal sex determination is done and hence the foetus is aborted if a girl child is found. The crime has the involvement of doctors, radiologist, gynecologists, nursing staff, young and old women and men, mostly affluent society. Natural balance between human sex ratio has been adversely effected. In some places the male, female ratio has declined to 888 females per 1000 males. As such its our duty to educate and make those stuck into social dogmas aware of this social sin. The prevailing laws must be made more strict and women must be given their due position in the society